Saturday, March 25, 2017

REMEMBERING NANDA

Today is the death anniversary
of Nanda, the beautiful talented actress who worked in Hindi and Marathi films.
Due to untimely death of her father in
1947 at a young age of 41, Nanda took to acting as a child artiste to support her family. Between 1948 and 1956
she appeared as a child artiste in
films like Mandir, Jaggu, Angaarey and
Jagriti. V Shantaram, the renowned
director and producer, who happened to be her uncle gave Nanda a big
break in 1956 in film Toofan Aur Diya , which turned out to be a hit. The
very next year in 1957 she was nominated for the Filmfare Best Supprting Actress award
for film Bhabhi . She played a
supporting role in Dev Anand starrer
Kala Bazaar and also had a nice role in Dhool
Ka Phool. The film that actually made her a star was
the film Chhoti Behan (1959).She had a lead role in dev
Anand’s Teen Deviyan
and Hum Dono , both hit movies. She
was a lead heroine in B.R.Chopra’s
film Kanoon(1960), a rare
movie without songs. During
different periods she
shared the top slot with Nutan,
Waheeda Rehman and Sadhana as the highly paid actress.

Once becoming an established
actress herself, she is known to have
encouraged new comers.She signed eight
movies with the newcomer Shashi Kapoor . The first two movies with Shashi
Kapoor- Char Diwari and Mehendi Lagi
Mere Haath , did not meet success at the box office but subsequently the films Mohabbat Isko Kehte Hain, Jab Jab Phool
Khille, Neend hamari Khwaab Tumhare, Raja Saab, and Rootha Na karo became hits.
She paired with all the top heroes of the time like Dev Anand, Rajinder Kumar,
Rajesh Khanna and Sanjeev Kumar. With Jeetendra, she paired in films Parivar
and Dharti kahe Pukar Ke.An affable person, she
enjoyed had cordial relations with Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana and Asha Parekh. Her
last films include Aahista Aahista, prem
Rog and Majdoor. She won Filmfre Best Actress Award for the film
Ittifaq , and the Best Supporting Actress
Award for Aanchal, Aahista
aahista and Prem Rog.